Verdict: Week 1 Grocery Challenge

Did we eat for $40 this week?

No.

If you recall, we had a little of $2.00 to spend after my Saturday shopping trip. In the mean time, I had a moment of weakness. I went to Whole Foods and drooled over the items. I came away with (and lost my receipt) approximately $11 in food including fresh bread ($.99), a vegan doughnut ($1.99), Hummus (approx 2.24) and some garbage $5.ish Chardonnay. Then yesterday I purchased approx. $11 in Quiznos sandwiches but it was for Jessica (and me) who had just come home with her bundle of joy...so I won't be too hard on myself for that. Nick said he bought a coffee...so lets just say that was $3.50.

We ended the week having spent a grand total of around $65.00 on food and food related items.

Not too shabby!

So what types of things did we eat?

Breakfast was an almond milk and banana and vanilla protein and flax seed smoothie every morning.

Lunch consisted of tuna sandwiches, almond butter and jam sandwiches, pancakes, poached eggs with avocado.

Dinners consisted of rice, chicken, broccoli, green beans, chicken bean and avocado burritos, pancakes, steak, quinoa

The biggest flaw in this whole thing was that Nick basically didn't eat - at least that I can tell. He didn't pack a lunch, and he didn't purchase lunches. Problem.

We are going to try this for a second week. We need to shave $20 off the food spending to actually hit the $40 challenge...but I am pretty sure we were spending around $170 or more each week on food which adds up to a whopping $680 per month just eating. So even getting it down to $60 in a week is a HUGE improvement saving us somewhere around $440 a month.

I will give you the run down on our food purchases when I go shopping again. As it stands, we still have enough food to get us by for a few more days without having to visit the grocery store!

Trip to Eugene!!

Jordan (my sister Ali's youngest)

Jordan

Feeding Miss Kitty lunch meat

Mmmmmm. Lunch meat!

Brothers

Mommy and Bear. So tired!

Jordan

Tanner

Cuteness Overload

4 months old

Two weeks

1 month

2 Months

3 Months

Four months

• Majorly sucking at this whole sleep thing. Usually goes to sleep around 7:30pm - 11pm, 11pm-2 or 3am, 3am - 5am or so and awake at 6am. He varies between 1.5 and 4.5 hours between feedings and generally wakes to eat and goes right back to sleep. Longer than 5 hours of sleep at a time would sure be nice!!
• Naps vary from practically sleeping all day to taking only 2 short naps. No consistency. 
• Sleeps in the pack n play next to the bed swaddled or in bed with us. Prefers to be with us
• wears carters 3 month clothes that are either terry towel material or fuzzy, 6 month carters cotton clothes, some 3 month onsies and some 6 month
• Exact weight to come in 2 weeks but weighs around 15lbs
• Eats every 2 to 2.5 hours during the day and mostly every 2 at night still exclusively breastfed
• Still loves his pacifier
• Holds toys, rattles, clothing, ect and can pass them from one hand to the other
• Loves to be held and be around people, cries when alone
• Loves to be read to
• Smiles when sung to
• Giggles when tickled
• Rumparoo diapers are snapped with 4 snaps left in middle and bumgenius with 3
• Can sit up holding your fingers
• Can do full cobra on tummy
• Stands holding one or two fingers of ours
• Chews on toys
• Drools like crazy
• Spits up a TON
• Jabbers, talks and coos
• Still has blue eyes
• Is losing his baby hair in patches and his dark baby hair is being replaced by blond hair underneath
• Still has some cradle cap
• Has not rolled over either way and shows little interest - is more interested in sitting or standing. 
• Either has his pacifier in or is stuffing his hands in his mouth. This kid really loves to have something to suck on. 
• Officially has some "stranger danger" and cries hysterically when held by someone he doesn't know. It's kind of funny (don't turn me in to the authorities!). Maybe I should just say, he is a bit of a mama's boy...ok, a lot a mama's boy. 
• Has started to "cuddle" and will hide his face in my chest
• Smiles big smiles when "baby bench pressed"
• Doesn't seem to like "new" men, even if they are men that he has been around a lot, if they haven't held him much, chances are if they try, he will MELT DOWN. 

Whats up with me:

It has been a while since I wrote about post baby life and I kind of regret not writing more, especially if we ever go on to have another baby, I certainly would like to have something to look back on to compare to. 

• I weigh anywhere from 143 - 147. 145 was my pre-pregnancy weight (yeay!) but I would ultimately like to end up around 135 or so. I am not sure if I have to wait until I am done breastfeeding before this will be a reality?
• I fit in all my jeans but not all of my suit pants. My butt and thighs seem to be smaller than they were before becoming pregnant, but my tummy is definitely bigger and needs some serious work. I have been doing ab exercises but what I think it really needs is some serious running. Good thing I am doing the 1/2 marathon in Sunriver in June...now if only it would stop raining so I could train. 
• I am sleep deprived and getting used to it. If you know me, you know I am not a good non sleeper. I am a need 8 hours a night kind of gal. I am a grouch with a capital G if I don't get enough sleep. Apparently, becoming a parent makes this a little better - I said a little. I can still get grouchy. 

Jessica's Shower

I beat Austin's arrival on this post, just barely!

My amazing friend Jessica is having a baby who will be almost EXACTLY 4 months younger than Bear and it is a Boy named Austin! I see two busy boys getting muddy in the backyard together in my future. Good thing we just installed a HUGE 6 foot long soaking tub in the guest bathroom. These boys will certainly spend lots of time splashing around in that thing together.

Monique hosted the shower and we held it at my house. It was pretty much the perfect way to do it because Mo is super creative and good at throwing parties and I have a pretty good house for entertaining in.

The Candy Bar

Popcorn!

Jessica and Bear

Monique putting on the finishing touches!

Mel, Lori, Bear and Lauren

Maddie, Allyn, Erin

Allyn and Maddie

Emily, Ali, MacKenzie

Me, Bear, Maddie and Allyn

Amanda and Jessica + Bear

Lest I forget - Pre-pragnancy Weight!

I usually hover around 140 give or take, but before I got pregnant with Bear, I weighed 145. Hey, it was the holidays!

I just need to record here, I stepped on the scale today and LO! I was 144! Whoop whoop!

I still have some work to do and some toning to do, but hey! 1 lb less than pre-Bear and he isn't quite 4 months.

And before you start shouting words like "good genes!" or "lucky!" - I want to put your anger to rest.

I.Worked.Hard.

Nursing. Eating well (no dairy, no sweets, mostly fresh fare, fish, chicken, ect) and working out.

I have more work to do, but I wanted to record that I am now 1 lb less than I was when I started this pregnancy journey.

YEA!

Weekly Grocery Challenge week 1

(He has nothing to do with this post other than being cute)

How is the grocery challenge going? (the $40 a week one)

In a short sentence?

Like CRAP. 

I have never paid much attention to our grocery bill or how much we spend on what. I guess it never really mattered. 

Then I lost my job. 

One income down. 

Then we had a baby. 

Extra expenses.

Then another job was lost. (how do you like that bomb I just dropped on you...and it happened at the beginning of December)

Two incomes down. 

And all of this meant paying more attention which is why I challenged myself to have a $40 weekly budget for food and groceries. 

We lucked out and already had things like frozen chicken, frozen steaks, frozen ground beef, frozen green beans, wild rice, jam, almond butter, 4 cans of tuna (yes I counted), chicken stock, almonds, flour, sugar, some canned soup, protein powder, flaxseed oil, and some other things I can remember right now like beans and tortillas. 

I make this list because you might laugh when you see what I spent $37.78 leaving $2.62 left over until next Saturday. Groceries are expensive. I have been buying them for a long time and just now came to this realization. 

I am still off dairy which complicates things because non-dairy stuff is, lets face it, more expensive. 

Costco

• 3 lbs of bananas = $1.39
• 6 avacados = $5.99
• 2 packs of Daves killer bread = $6.99
• Mushrooms = $3.99
• 36 Eggs = $9.38 (this leaves us 6 eggs short for the week and I can't stomach not eating organic free range eggs, this is my splurge. I think we need to get our own chickens)

Fred Meyer

• 2 half gallon Almond milk = $3.98 on special
• 1 half gallon skim milk (organic because that's how I roll)=$2.50 on special
• Organic green onions = $3.16

See why I laugh? That is rediculous. That is like no food and it is supposed to last for a week. I do get screwed on having to buy almond milk and not being able to eat most bread because they contain dairy but really? This is just flat crazy. Oh and the avocado is necessary because it boosts breastmilk production. 

I am beginning to wonder how much I used to spend and my stomach is turning a little knowing it was a LOT. 

And did you notice the items that aren't even on there? No meat, no cheese, no drinks (other than milk and milk substitute), no broccoli, no spinach...

So tune in for updates as this challenge continues. 

40 dollar challenge

Can a family eat for $40 a week?

That is my challenge. 

Not just eat - but eat healthy. No freezer dinners or extreme couponers buying all the lean cuisine in the freezer at Fred Meyer. No - we are talking fresh food. 

I think the key to doing this is simplification of diet. If we eat many of the same things, I think we can do this. As such, no gourmet items. No experimental foods with lots of ingredients. 

The thing is, we have certain things already that make this challenge easier, but the challenge is to eat on $40 per week for - oh lets just say a month. 

The staple foods are as follows:

Eggs, eggs eggs

Almond milk

Spinach

Green Onion

Mushrooms

Broccoli

Green beans

Avocado

Bananas

Oranges

Tuna

Almond Butter

Jam (I made jam in the fall)

Rice

Bread

I anticipate going through a ton of eggs. Good thing we love scrambles. We will be having between the two of us, a 6 egg scramble with green onion, mushroom and spinach daily for a meal. 

Smoothie - almond milk, banana, soy protein, flax seed oil

Tuna sandwich

Almond butter and jam sandwich

I will keep you all posted on how this goes. 

Proud

Breastfeeding is a lot of work. 

Exclusive breastfeeding is even more work. 

I feed bear approximately every 2 hours during the day  and lately, every 2 hours at night (with the exception of last night - 4 blissful hours. Thank you!)

We have given Bear a grand total of around 6 bottles in his life (pumped). 

He averages 10 feedings a day and has since birth. 

Bear is 113 days old so that is approximately 1,130 feedings - Woa. 

I am proud of the fact that I have never used formula - and not because I think you are a bad parent if you do, because lets be honest, there are a ton of very good reasons to use formula - but because I have put forth a tremendous amount of effort and I feel like I should be proud of this feat. 

I gave up dairy. 

I am careful to eat and drink enough to keep up milk production.

I work everything around feeding schedules. Workout. Shower. Grocery shopping. Everything revolves around Bear's eating schedule. 

From a personal standpoint, I am a huge breast-milk only advocate. Nothing is more well suited to the nutritional needs of babies. It lowers risk of disease, obesity, its good for their emotional well being, ect, ect, ect. And it is for all these reason that I am so willing to give up my personal well being for Bear's 

So with that - I would like to say, I am so proud to have made it 113 days because it has not been easy, it has been a tremendous amount of effort and it will continue to be a lot of effort. 

With any luck, I will continue to be able to provide for Bear in this capacity for a long time coming. 

To all you mom's out there who have made this tremendous commitment, way to go!

Because lets be honest - there is nothing easy about this whole breastfeeding thing. 

Sleep

Sleep has become a problem for us - well, me mostly - but us a little.

Bear wakes up EVERY.TWO.HOURS.ALL.NIGHT.LONG.

I don't remember what real sleep is like. 

 This has been going on for a month, maybe more and before that, we were getting one 4 hour stretch and several 3 hour stretches. 

I am stubborn. Bear is exclusively breastfed. 

Formula makes me nervous with recalls and stuff. 

But eff. 

I look ragged. Run down. I have dark circles. And by gosh - I am becoming a grouch. Or a crumudgeon - whatever. I'm pretty sour about it. 

It doesn't seem to be getting any better. 

The Pediatric Society or Association or whatever they call themselves says no solids until he is 6 months. 

The idea of being this run down and sleepless for another 2.5 months is unthinkable. To put that in perspective - I have until March 23. 

And here's the thing. I refuse to let my selfish desire for sleep interfere with Bears health. Stubborn.

But let me say it again. Eff. I'm tired!

Christmas 2012

In a world with lots of “stuff,” we decided that Bear didn’t need stuff just for stuff’s sake for his first Christmas. He is 3 months old and honestly, he doesn’t need anything. He has clothes and baby equipment and he really doesn’t play with toys yet. We kind of put out the word – Bear really didn’t need much for Christmas this year.

We celebrated with Joni on the Tuesday before Christmas. We had an amazing dinner and exchanged gifts. Poor Bear was a little grouchy. He cried a long time while we were over at grammie’s house. He didn’t sleep well during the day so it came back to haunt us for dinner.

This year we went lo key. The tile guys finally had some time to work on our bathroom so we took them up on it and they got started on the tile the week before Christmas. As I sit here and write this, the tile around the shower is up. The tile for the floor in the bathroom and entryway still need to be put up but that will happen after the first of the year when we get back from Vacation in McCall.

Because the tile was being put up, Nick stayed up in Portland while I drove down to Eugene on Thursday with my little sister Heidi and stayed over night til Friday. We celebrated Christmas with my whole family this year – just a little early. 

Auntie Ali, Bear and Cousin Jordan

My dad being silly

My mom, Cousin Tanner (cousin to Bear) and brother Russ

Russ and Heidi

 

Tanner being a goof!

We headed out to McCall (where I am writing this from) to relax. We headed out on the 24^th and will be here until the 3^rd.

The weather is super strange here. Usually, there are feet (like 3-5 or more) of snow on the ground. There may be a foot. And it rained the last 2 nights. Rain? In McCall? In December? And the mountain opened today, the 30^th which is the second latest opening ever. And the snow is terrible. Like, I wouldn’t ski on it. The snow is rained on, frozen, there is hardly any snow at all. Usually, they are open in early to mid December and the snow by now is deep, thick, powdery amazingness. Hm. Yea. The trees don’t even have snow on them, it is too wet – it rained too hard.

We went for a walk with Bear in the Bjorn yesterday. Have you ever walked in a foot of snow with a baby attached to your front that weighs around 13 lbs? In case you never have, it’s hard. Quite the little work-out.

Otherwise, we have mostly been relaxing. We had a low-key Christmas and are looking forward to a low-key new year.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year!